Highly ordered superstructures of molecules or (nano)particles have attracted great attention because they possess both characters of monomers and their collective properties. Molecular components through various noncovalent interactions such as multiple hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, and aromatic stacking have been used for preparation of supramolecular polymers that have self-healing properties (sensitive response to stimuli) and self-repairing capacity.
Xu et al. (Chem. Soc. Rev. 2013, 42 (7), 3114-3126) disclosed one (1-D), two (2-D), and three-dimensional (3-D) superstructures with various morphologies such as wires, spirals, column, and sheets have been prepared through self-assembly.
Wang et al. (ACS Nano 2010, 4 (3), 1587-1595) further taught these self-assembled superstructures can retain the properties of individual nanoparticles and have shown promising in various applications such as optical and electronic sensors, biomedicals, and energy related materials in batteries.
However, preparation of high-quality and large-scale self-assembled superstructures is an very difficult task. It requires particular attention in controlling many experimental factors such as the surface ligand, core, and solvent, mainly because they affect the interactions between/among nanoparticles through various forces such as van der Waals, electrostatic, and entropic particle-particle interactions.
Based on the aforementioned, the important target of current industries is to develop a process for large scale self-assembly of supermolecule that can form new materials with both characters of monomers and collective properties and a new family of self-assembly material made from a fabricates from easy-obtain, non-expensive precursor and gree process consisted with polymer-like properties.